Jackson Jambalaya

I'll believe it when I see it. A few years ago some politico in Jackson proposed that Six Flags build a park near the zoo?

This should be fun, but they’re gonna need more streets.

I'd sure like to see the market research on this. Hard to believe this metro area -- anchored by a dying capital city and with no other major attractions -- could sustain such a venue after the newness wears off.

Maybe Tate can throw some taxpayer funds at this boondoggle too.

Just google DeAngelo Simmons and lawsuit. Should be fun to watch. And I haven't even googled the other names yet.

With two golfing attractions on the horizon, how is this not a win-win for everyone? Just because the Metrocenter doesn't have a ferris wheel does not mean this will not happen.

Trustmark Park is another facility that could be domed and create a second one of these--just think this area could become the sports tourism center of the southeast! Or build a Zoo in Madison County! opportunity abound!

What was the name of the water park or amusement park that was planned for Madison County? Didn’t some out-of-state folks get rich & some folks get popped for fraud? Did I dream all that?

Is it financed by future timber sales?

Shouldn’t they all wait until there are actually elected officials making the city’s deals?

And don’t you just wish the design for the new Gluckstadt city hall looks exactly like the ugly mess that was permitted to sprout up along Calhoun Station Parkway. How sweet to perpetuate that ugliness as the true moniker of Gluckstadt as a city hall design!!

10:10 - man, you ain’t kidding. Check out the scam he and his nephew/client were running, as an “annuity.”

https://structuredsettlements.typepad.com/structured_settlements_4r/2022/10/judge-denies-motions-of-nba-all-star-and-uncle-in-15mm-lawsuit-brought-by-ny-retirement-planretirees.html

See if they are interested in the Metro Center while they are in the development mood.

The headline says it is coming to Gluckstadt, but the article says the land is located near I-55/I-20(but owned by Gluckstadt residents) which is several municipalities south of Gluckstadt.

"The acquired land belonging to Canton Academy alumni and Gluckstadt residents, Stuart and Katie Warren, owners of Turn Key Properties in Madison, Mississippi, is located near the requisite I-55/I-20 corridor and will be the future home of the massive Gluckstadt MegaDome sports complex which will include a multitude of indoor courts (basketball, volleyball, pickleball), fields (football, baseball, softball), swimming pools, meeting space, on-site hotel, unique Mississippi-curated restaurants, just to name a few of the amenities."

@10:29- agree wholeheartedly. There has been ZERO mention of any process for actually electing anyone. I’m sure the “appointed ones” (who appointed them in the first place, other than themselves?) are going to hang on to that power as long as they can.

Ground will be broken as soon as Harborwalk is completed

I smell a rat for this comes up every few years.I will retract my comment if the money to build is with out government assistance.

Where is the I-55/I-20 Corridor in Gluckstadt?

The first thing that pops into my head when I hear Gluckstadt is “sports destination”. Why didn’t I think of this.

Who remembers the wheelchair theme park that was coming to Madison a few decades ago? Another swindle???

With the ticketing of out of state visitors GPD should be able to expand their new office. I do have to admit Mississippi’s newest sports destination sound better than Mississippi’s newest speed trap.

Y’all hold on a second. Somebody has got the location wrong. Here we go again with outside developers and bullshitters. That “I-55/ I-20 is more than likely that “so called” sports complex that was dreamed up by some other out of state bullshitters where the old Jackson Square Shopping center was located. It’s torn down but in all reality, it was torn down to decrease the amount of property taxes since structures were located on the premises. Now it’s a pile of rubble. So now we are pretty much in tune with what they are saying about the I-55/I-20 location. Now, $100 million is a lot of money and most of you ought to know there is no way to service that kind of debt unless it’s a college team or professional team tied to it and we know that’s not going to happen. People can draw up pretty pictures and bring them to city hall meetings and get everyone excited but in the end you see just empty pockets and thieves.

The “appointed ones” were interviewed and selected by the Citizens for Gluckstadt, who were in charge of the incorporation. For those that don’t know this was the third attempt at incorporation and this time it was successful. Just like Byron, Diamondhead and any other city that is incorporated, the mayor and board have to be selected, and named in the incorporation papers. The Citizens for Gluckstadt collected the appropriate number of signatures to incorporate and those that signed selected these individuals to be the first board. Just like any other city, all members of the board and the mayor will be up for election in 2025. The city of Gluckstadt’s board meeting are the second Tuesday of each month if anyone would like to speak with the board or have any questions. The city has proposed an overlay district for Calhoun Station and what the building will look like and how the city would like to see the area develop. The city has had to deal with over 95% of what is in Gluckstadt being allowed by the county in addition to the county not doing anything about the roads. If there is something you want to see, go to a board meeting And let the city know.

Lost me at $100 mil. When has a private group invested that kind of money in MS? With the Braves leaving, why not negotiate
A deal in Pearl? I’ll be surprised if this gets off the ground. Pipe dream lives on ….

10:09, the key to Mississippi's vault are held by the Legislature. The Governor only signs their withdrawal approval.

Another investment scam. These folks play MS like a fiddle. When’s that top golf set to open? This spring?

4 828 related company filings in GA in August 2023. Brand new Facebook page and website….good luck Gluckstadt.

Gluckstadt is about to get scammed. This guy is a known swindle. Just a simple Google search shows his shady past.

It has everything:

NBA agent
Big name "Gluckstadt Megadome"
Company that just got incorporated and uses "8:28" in their name (reference to Romans 8:28)

Ridiculous that our leaders listen to this known swindlers.

This is actually a good thing. It won't be like the Trustmark Park vacancy because youth sports are here to stay. I've long thought Jackson is well-situated to be a youth sports hub because most "travel teams" drive to tournaments, and Jackson is central between Dallas and Atlanta--two major sports hubs.

Parents are willing to shell out a fortune for little Johnny and Suzy to have their shot at being professional athletes. I'm amazed at the number of parents whose primary investment strategy for their children's college fund is youth sports. I hope this brings a whole ton of 2% prepared food and beverage revenue to the metro.

I don't believe this will ever happen. I live in G-Stadt (10 years)and the traffic is worse here than in Baton Rouge. No way they can put a facility that large with parking in the city limits. It is not physically possible.

This is like saying Senatobia is in the I-55/I-69 corridor....

Spend 10 minutes googling the names associated with this. It will tell you all you need to know. This is a Metro Center 2.0. Get a good laugh and move on.

12:51 The Governor sure acts like he has the keys to Mississippi's vault. Maybe you weren't watching the same news conference as me. He single handedly put his mega deal together. He will only point to the legislature when it fails.

For those with reading comprehension challenges, it's NOT at the intersection of I-55/I-20, it's the I-20 corridor AND the I-55 corridor.

Never happen... $100 million my ass

The likely site is at the S/W corner of US-51 and Yandell Road, across US-51 from Wildwood and Twin Cedars.

More on 8:28 from the Ga. Secretary of State: https://www.georgiacompanyregistry.com/Agent/DeAngelo+Simmons/

Damn KF, there sure are some dumb-ass commentors on your site today.

NEAR the 155/120 Corridor does not mean AT the intersection of these two interstates. Read on folks - in Economic Development terms, the fact that folks from Dallas, Shreveport, Meridian, Birmingham, Atlanta can get to this site (in Gluckstadt) easily (travel 120 to the stack, turn north and go less than 30 minutes) put it in the "CORRIDOR" just as the folks from the MS Gulf Coast and Memphis can get there by traveling on I55.

Yes, the actual site is in Gluckstadt. Gluckstadt IS located in the I55/I20 corridor area. This term does not necessarily limit such a site as being on the north side of Richland, where the sex shops are located!

Swindlers? Scammed? I read nothing about who is supplying the money, but obviously folks here must think that the $100M is being put up by the City.

Nothing in this press release says so, but all the naysayers must be tired of complaining about the $2 billion being invested by Dalhmeir in Marshall so they have moved to this project.

Yes, these sportsplexes are working well in other areas - check out the growth of the baseball/softball complex in DeSoto County, since its beginning. Look at what Vicksburg is developing. Yes, this will include much more than those two areas, but the market for them has certainly been proven over the past decade.

If 30 miles is a corridor in Mississippi, then Gluckstadt is for sure a suburb of Canton. Gluckites hate it when you tell them that.

The website is full of buzz words and other things that don't make sense.

https://www.828sportsventures.com

"The world of investment and entrepreneurship is often synonymous with risk and potential disappointments and setbacks. The team of 8:28 Sports Ventures believes that God works for good in all things, even the most difficult situations. We understand that life’s experiences and difficulties are used by God to accomplish His purpose in our lives and in the lives of others. "

Okay. What does this have to do with a $100 million sports facility?

"Every aspect of our business plan is guided by our belief “that all things work together.” We are based out of Atlanta, Georgia but operate globally through our Sports Venture verticals"

Okay. You have 3 followers on Facebook and 1 follower on Instagram. How are you "operating globally?"

"Our tourism plan ties our 8:28 Sports Ventures solutions together to create community growth, educational investment, brand and media exposure and a pathway for student athletes to complete a successful and fulfilling sports lifecycle—from performance to sports career options and an understanding of the strength and power of using their gifts for a greater purpose."

Please.

Gluckstadt leaders: Do some simple math. Why would you invest $100 million into a youth sports facility?

Let's just say you have 100 families every weekend spending $1000. And that is a ridiculous assumption.

That's $1,000,000 coming in every weekend, 52 times a year. Getting back 2 percent of that in local taxes is just over a million a year. It would take 100 years to recoup the cost, and thats if every dollar was spent in the Stadt, instead of Madison or Ridgeland.

This is absurd. I can't believe it is actually being entertained. There should be an impeachment of every alderman that signs on to this.

How soon do the TIF bonds go on sale?

NOPE, one if those names is a crook.. go search legal history.
Rest of those names don't have what it takes to pull this off.
Why does the city need a press release to share a real estate contract?
What has the mayor told them in advance?
WHO wants What?

Jesus, sportsball, and a few business buzzwords is all it takes to swindle people these days. It used to be that you had to work hard at it with something like a rail connector or multi-modal nexus.

First of all I would like to know why ANYONE would think a sports complex in Mississippi would work? The ESPN Wide World of Sports in Florida is 220 acres and supposedly is only partly active...

Secondly, I know that Hanna-Barbera Productions was looking at a Flintstones-branded theme park in the late 70s and 80s in the same area, but pulled out because the numbers did not work out...

Because this state is the poorest in the nation we are subject to any con artist that says they can bring investment and jobs... then run for the hills after getting their cut...

3:01 - pretty much the only brains here...

Holy Horizontal, Batman! I'm just now figuring out Vertical Church and now I'm reading about Vertical Ball?

Agree with the poster above.
Harbor Walk 2.0
This will never happen.

So basically they are just building a huge ass indoor gym?

@332 - damn, I missed the part that said the City of Gluckstadt is putting $100 million into this deal. Help a poor guy out here and point to where you found that important detail.

You must have found it because your math is premised on the idea that Gluckstadt is putting up the dollars.

yeah 4:25, what was a Hannah Barber idea 48 years ago wouldn't work out, so therefore this won't either - despite the fact that its not a theme park, its not being done in the Jimmy Carter inflationary economy, and its not being done when the City of Madison was just getting off the ground as a city, much less Gluckstadt which didn't exist.

Damn - just what school provided you with your economics degree?

I believe that Kingfish's excellent redux of the KOUNTRY TYME scam, was titled 'Her Finest Hour' (Mary Hawkins Butler was the one sane voice, yelling, "This is a scam, people! Don't fall for it!").

Kountry Tyme (or however it was spelled) is what several of those posting, above, are trying to remember). It's worth going into Jackson Jambalaya archives, to read about the (apparently-ongoing) gullibility of Madison County's yokels-in-charge.

This thing isn’t straight off the interstate. The developers are shady as hell. The area in question is going to have wetland issues. Look at the fema map. This ain’t going to happen. Gluckstadt touting this makes them look ridiculous. It’s like the Simpsons monorail episode.

old post

If it happens it will be great for Gluckstadt and the surrounding communities. There is one similar in Bovina that stays packed. The project would be funded by the developer, no TIF’s or city money.

I think that travel ball and our crossroads location could be a good match with the right sports facilities developer and manager, BUT in this case, Mayor Morgan and Mr. and Mrs. Warren, y'all watch out for that "Mississippi-native and longtime private equity investment executive and Chief Investment Officer". Not his first time at bat.

Kountry Tyme was John Wallace and Bob Montgomery falling in love with an out of town city slicker, and neither being smart enough to realize they were about to be duped. Bucky Gideon (and some partners) later bought the land and sold it off as Panther Creek Subdivision. I remember expressing my skepticism to Wallace and Montgomery and getting the very lengthy lecture explaining how I was wrong. I got the last laugh on that conversation.

@6:44
You are correct.
In this case

Hey 6:12 - parks, golfcourses. baseball/softball fields, etc are PERFECT for places that have what you call 'wetland issues'. They build these things where there might be occasional flooding. Green spaces that don't have buildings are ideal for areas that might have 'wetland issues'.

Prime example - NEJSO soccer fields. Total site has 'wetland issues'. But those things are not 'issues' for this kind of development.

But then again, I assume you are one of these folks that have a social-media degree with a blog masters that can opine on anything due to your extensive negative knowledge.

6:12, tbh a youth sports complex sounds like more of a Shelbyville idea, anyway

Money, money everywhere…

MRA has started a new fund and is planning on breaking ground north of Madison. I'm hearing the landlocked school wants to build an off-campus, multi-purpose sports training facility. This, plus the online curriculum being contemplated, should allow for more targeted recruiting.

I guess that cannot let Hartfield catch them. Go Pats!

Will fist-fights among travel-ball parents and coaches be allowed or will Meridian teams be banned from participating?

I don't know about the rest of you suckers, but Ima open a large bus-shop with the capability to house, repair and even sell large traveling buses and motor-homes.

Meanwhile, just to keep up, Madison is building a new office for its mayor and Ridgeland has finally got the spotlights properly adjusted to shine on the new city hall.

The MRA facility should piggyback off the dome.

By moving most of the athletic training north and online, daddies can sleep at night knowing their baby girls are safe. Maybe that is why they are building.

Happy for Gluckstadt and the area.

Sure hope that somebody gets ahold of the planning and development map in Gluckstadt before much longer. That place is a hodgepodge of streets and buildings that have no rhythm or sense.

It does not matter what we are the crossroads of, there is nothing here that people want to see or do. So, we are equidistant from Memphis to NOLA and Atlanta to Dallas. What idiot living in Memphis, NOLA, Atlanta or Dallas wakes up and says, hey lets go blow a grand playing ball in Mississippi?

If this thing ever happens, it will draw teams from Meridian, Hattiesburg and Monroe. And it will NEVER pay for itself.

This "deal" ranks right up there with three card Monte and the shell game.

The vast majority of what is in Gluckstadt was allowed by the county. They did not care what they allowed or where and P&Z was one of the biggest reasons to incorporate. Citizens were tired of gas stations and liquor stores. The city has put conditional use on both of these. It’s amazing that so many people have no. Lue that Gluckstadt has only been a city a little over two years and yet are blamed for everything the county allowed. There is an overlay district planned for Calhoun Station and will look really nice once implemented. Madison, Ridgeland and every other city wasn’t made over night and didn’t have to deal as much with what the county dealt them. As a citizen in Gluckstadt I am thankful for what the city is doing. Pot holes and roads are fixed punctually, the police have done a great job of slowing down speeders, no more liquor stores and no more metal buildings in the main areas. Rome wasn’t built overnight and neither will Gluckstadt.

Any foreign slicksters come around talking money and pipe dreams and the mayors and alderfolk go goggle-eyed at the prospect of being able to tell the folks, "Yeppity yeppers, look what I done brung here." Happens all the time, politicians high on their own supply of perpetual bullshit.

Bovina? Bullshit. They don't even have fried chicken at the Bovina gas station.

"Just google DeAngelo Simmons and lawsuit. Should be fun to watch. And I haven't even googled the other names yet."

If Googling lawsuits were the key to business development 'round here, Mac Haik would not now own (most) every vehicle outlet in the Metro.

"The likely site is at the S/W corner of US-51 and Yandell Road, across US-51 from Wildwood and Twin Cedars."

Surely you jest. That corner is a lake! It would take two million cubic yards of fill to bring that parcel up to grade. And it's nowhere close to Twin Cedars.

There is a sucker born every minute, and Tater Tot is one.

Wowza!
I don't live in Madison County anymore. A friend shared this news with me this morning. My first thought was it seems the mayor may just ask the board to support a TIF, thus putting the City and County on the hook.
If that is the case, that would be a mistake right now.
My friend also shared the city has obtained debt for building of the police dept and city court. That's a great investment.
It is DEBT for a 3+ year old city.

I looked up the company name in Georgia. Per documents filed, the company was formed about 6 months ago. Prior to that the gentleman owned a trucking company.
This means there is no financial history to speak of for 828 whoever they are.

For the sake of the leadership and the city, don't fall for this if these business owners come to you wanting a deal, wanting a partnership to put the city on the hook.
From over here where I am now, it is not time for that.

Good luck to all involved.

Has anyone seen any actual numbers - actual financials, reasonable assumptions, or even optimistic-but-arguable projections - for ANY of these "deals" that seem pretty far-fetched, numbers- and ROI-wise, whether this sports facility, the battery plant, the "data centers," etc.?

A very quick look, with no true due diligence research claimed or implied, shows US shipbuilding (obviously an existing industry in Mississippi) is an approximately $40 billion direct-revenue (revenue, not profit) industry with about 100,000 direct and 400,000 indirect jobs and about $10 billion in direct and $15 billion in indirect labor income. Assuming those numbers to be roughly accurate enough for discussion, none of it translates into Gluckstadt (or anywhere in Mississippi north of US-90) being a great place to build a shipyard. According to industry stats published by the National Ski Area Association in a 2023 report, "downhill snowsports generate $58.87 billion in economic activity annually" and "there are 533,000 ski and snowboard jobs nationwide." Those numbers do not translate into the potential for anywhere in the Jackson, MS region being the next Aspen. CO or Jackson Hole, WY (Jackson, MS being a hole of another type notwithstanding).

What's my point? Mississippi could and should do reasonable things like offer reasonable incentives, tax and otherwise (incentives, not giveaways), to attract reasonable projects in industries that could reasonably locate facilities in Mississippi. "Tech" and other STEM-related ventures should get reasonable bonus points and therefore more incentive, but anything reasonable, tech or "old school" industry, is better than nothing at all (or worse, money-losing bullshit). But the numbers also have to be in the general vicinity of reasonable to work, and they must stand up to objective analysis. If there aren't any numbers, even pie-in-the-sky assumptions and projections, that is a huge danger signal.

This has all the makings of the Ferris Wheel, Condo, Metrocenter Mall investor. It will never happen. People like this love to have big dreams, and make big "announcements" about what all they are doing, but it'll never get off the ground.

The Mayor of Gluckstadt is a pretty smart guy and also an attorney. A year or so back a guy proposed a "sports" complex at one of the board meetings and the Mayor asked him what he wanted from the city? When you indicated he wanted financial backing from the city the Mayor said "no". I bet his answer will be the same to these people if they ask for money from the city. So if that happens the city has nothing to loose! We can wait and see.

Thanks to KF & JackJam for the + and - comments allowed on this blog!Freedom of Speech does exist, thanks to you, and Elon!
Now for a vision of the real thing, the supposed 'data center' on Hwy 22 west of Canton: if you haven't driven out there RECENTLY to see what is happening, if you haven't seen all the heavy machinery needed to clear and sculpt 200+ acres of former pine forest, then drive your skeptical ass out there and explore the 60' wide heavy duty roads (streets) already in place, look for the sign and picture of the new Ergon building, see the Entergy sub-station, and then try to question the inevitability of this giant data center, you may be convinced that this IS HAPPENING. (My guess for several weeks has been "this is going to be an AWS site, Amazon Web Services).

10:18, what was the return on investment the “guy” offered up in return for the city’s investment? Add a 0 or two behind that number and the answer might be different the next time around.

January 24, 2024 at 8:39 AM you don't get it about our crossroads location and travel ball. Parents have to come from all over to bring their kids to play and they stay and spend. It may as well be in an accessible location and creates tourism for us.

THE PROBLEM with this particular deal is these partners. I fear that this nice couple and this nice mayor are just before getting swindled by shysters! One of the partners from Madison has had his history scrubbed from the web.

Some City of Gluckstadt approved developments are paralyzed by the Gulf South/Boardwalk Pipeline that lays on the west side of Hwy 51… It runs north from Madison all the way to Canton.. the pipeline is 90 years old - the pipeline companies want the landowners to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade their pipeline - or you are basically landlocked. Hope they get that issue cleared soon for the betterment of the City.

"Sure hope that somebody gets ahold of the planning and development map in Gluckstadt before much longer. That place is a hodgepodge of streets and buildings that have no rhythm or sense."

Too late for that. The 'hodge-podge' development mentality occurred before Gluck became a city. You can thank Gerald Steen for that.

Googled that spokesperson, Larry Fortune. Looks like he strated up a charity and didn't stay in his lane too good

https://www.sos.ms.gov/content/enforcementactionssearch/EnforcementActions/Enriching%20Lives%20Foundation%20-%20Cease%20and%20Desist%20and%20NOI%20to%20Revoke%20and%20Adminstratively%20Dissolve%20-%20LC-20-4176.pdf